There was once a holy man sitting under a tree meditating. He had his hands open and a female mouse fell into his hands. A bird had apparently dropped the mouse. He felt sorry for the little mouse and because he was a great siddhi, a being of great powers from his years of meditation, he turned the mouse into a lovely young girl, and took the girl home to his house. His wife was enthralled with this. She was unable to have children, and she was so happy to have this little girl. They both loved her very much, and brought her up to be a fine young lady.
One day the wife said to the husband, "Husband it's time for our daughter to get married. Where can we find a suitable husband for her?" And the holy man said, I know, I'll ask the sun. So he went outside and he called the sun and he said, "Mr. Sun, our daughter is of the marrying age and we're looking for a suitable husband. Can you help us?" The sun said, "Certainly, I will marry her myself." How would you like to get married to the sun? The husband was thrilled and he said, Oh great joy has come over me that the sun would pick my daughter to be married to. And he ran in and he told his wife and he told his daughter. And the daughter said, "No Dad, I don't want to marry the sun. There's too much light, I'll be burned. Find me a different husband."
So the holy man went outside, he spoke to the sun again, he said, "Mr. Sun, our daughter does not wish to marry you because she will be burned with your light. Can you think of anyone else more powerful than you, that can marry her?" So the sun thought about it, and then he said, "Ask Mr. Cloud. The cloud will give you an answer. The cloud is mightier than I am because many times the clouds hide me, and I do not appear, and I can do nothing about it. So the cloud is mightier than I am. Ask the cloud." The holy man beseeched the cloud and said, "Mr. Cloud, I have a daughter that is of the marrying age and I'm looking for a suitable husband for her. Can you help out? Do you know of anyone who should marry her?" And Mr. cloud said, "I will. I'll marry your daughter." And again the holy man became overjoyed with this. Imagine a cloud marrying my daughter. This was a good thing. He ran in the house, told his wife and then told his daughter. The wife and the husband were so happy, but the daughter said, "Chill out, Dad. I don't want to marry that cloud. For when it rains, I'll get soaked. Get me a better husband."
So again the holy man went out to the cloud and told him the story, what the daughter said. "Can you think of anyone else?" And the cloud said, "Well, how about Mr. Mountain? This is a great mountain here that is mightier than I am, because when I flow around the mountain, I can't go through it. I have to flow around it. And there's nothing I can do about it. So the mountain is very powerful." The holy man beseeched the mountain, "Mr. Mountain, can you think of someone that can marry my daughter?" And the mountain also said, "I will." So again the holy man was very happy about this. A mountain marrying his daughter, what could be better? He ran into the house, told the wife, she was overjoyed. And he told the daughter. Again she didn't want to marry the mountain. She said, "Come on, Dad, I can't marry this mountain. The mountain has cactus growing all over it. When we embrace, I'll be pinched with cactus. Think of someone else."
So the holy man went back to the mountain and told him the story, and said, Can you think of anybody else for my daughter? The mountain said, "Well, the only one I can think of that is more powerful than me is this little mouse that lives in the bottom of me, because he bores holes and has a nest inside of me, and I can do nothing about it. And since he bores holes in me, he must be more powerful than I am. Ask the mouse."
So the holy man went to the mouse and said, Mr. Mouse, I have a daughter of the marrying age, I'm looking for a suitable husband, can you help me?" And the mouse said, "Yes, I will marry her myself." He was overjoyed. Imagine, a mouse marrying his daughter. He ran and told his wife, and they both went and told the daughter. The daughter thought about this and she said, "Yes, I will marry the mouse. The mouse is very cute. I will marry the mouse. But father can you do something for me? Can you please turn me into a little mouse also?
So the holy man turned her into a little mouse. And they both got married and they lived happily ever after, in the mountain. Now what is the moral of this story?
This story tries to bring home the fact that your dharma is what you have to live out. If you try to change it, years will pass, and you will make all kinds of mistakes, and go through all kinds of problems. This means if you change your environment, or if you change the condition, the samskaras and the conditioning that you have inside of you will just put you back in that kind of a position with different people, different environment, because you have not risen from that condition yet. Therefore you have to experience the same things over, and over, and over, and over again.
From Robert Adams Talk -- This is your Dharma
No comments:
Post a Comment